We continue coverage of this awesome book with another small sample:
Chapter Title: The Political Profits of Pointless Punishment
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Bovard is hilarious. I haven't been pointing it out in the previous chapters, but it's there. He's got that whole Letterman understated irony humor thing going on.
In this chapter he tears apart that dumbass, Ashcroft, and his ridiculous war on drugs. Ashcroft should be out hunting Osama's U.S.-based agents, not Tommy Chong, who was netted during Operation Pipe Dreams - Ashcroft's 1,200-officer strong drug sting operation on drug paraphernalia:
Helicopters and SWAT teams were used in many Pipe Dreams arrests. Luckily, none of the G-men accidentally shot anyone during the raids. The U.S. Marshals Service magazine noted: "All of the arrests were without incident" -- which was not surprising, since selling glass bowls and rolling paper is not usually indicative of violent tendencies.
. . .
The bong raids were widely seen as a publicity stunt by Ashcroft and federal drug warriors. The fact that all of the businesses were operating openly (some were members of the local chamber of commerce) proved that the SWAT teams and helicopters were little more than theater designed to boost press coverage.
This Ashcroft cat is one crazy-ass motherfucker. No doubt. I don't even want to imagine what's going on in that dude's head, but damn, it must be scary in there.
Link to original article (and Chapter 1 - Introduction) here.
Link to previous chapter.
Chapter 10.
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